Simplify the writing process by breaking down your writing lessons into teachable daily chunks and committing to a daily writing routine. Writing can be a difficult subject to teach within the confines of the classroom schedule. However, including short writing lessons into your daily routine can improve the quality of students’ writing over the course of a school year. Studies show that students who spend more time writing (an additional 15 minutes a day in grades 2–8) produce better writing than students who write sporadically. See this study: Research-Based Writing Practices and the Common Core: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis.
Here’s a simple method using a trait-based writing approach:
1. Teach the writing skill
Choose one writing strategy to focus on every week. Spend a few minutes every day reviewing the strategy and provide opportunities for students to apply it to their writing.
The trait-based model of writing is a focused approach to writing instruction that uses key qualities to teach students how to write. Its simplified approach makes it easy to identify and focus on effective writing skills every week.
6-trait writing teaches the traits of effective writing:
- Ideas: main message
- Organization: structure of the writing and its flow from beginning to end
- Word Choice: interesting vocabulary, verbs, correct use of vocabulary
- Sentence Fluency: sentences flow together and make sense
- Voice: casual, friendly, appropriate to writing content
- Conventions: mechanical correctness
2. Provide daily writing practice
Daily practice: provide daily opportunities for students to practice the writing strategy for that week. In order for students to apply the skills to their own writing, they need to be able to identify what those qualities look like in another text. Download your free printable from Daily 6-Trait Writing on sentence fluency.- Mix and Match: If your class is ready, mix and match skills to include one language convention along with another writing trait to give your students repeated practice throughout the year.
- Independent writing: At the end of the week, ask students to apply the new skill to their own writing. Writing journals are perfect for this because they demonstrate students’ growth throughout the year.
One resource that works seamlessly within the classroom is Daily 6-Trait Writing. Perfect for morning work or a quick 15-minute practice session, Daily 6-Trait Writing provides daily skill-based practice and teaches students the fundamentals of quality writing. Lessons progress in difficulty throughout the week and culminate on day five with an activity that asks students to apply what they have learned by responding to a writing prompt.
Formal writing lessons can be intensive time suckers, but they don’t have to be the only type of writing taught in your classroom. Daily, consistent writing will teach your students to become comfortable with their own voice and increase their confidence in their writing abilities.
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Download this sampler and view contents for all grade levels and a weekly unit for grades 1, 3, and 7: Daily 6-Trait Writing Sampler.
Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.